Good observation. I would add that Brazil may need a semiconductor industry more than the semiconductor industry needs a new base of design and manufacturing of chips.
I hope Brazil is tracking the experiences of places such as Singapore and the lessons they teach.
I'm not sure there's room for another success story on the order of Korea or Taiwan.

It seems to me that the movement to develop a domestic semiconductor industry in Brazil has moved in fits and starts. When I had a chance to travel to Brazil for the Ceitec grand opening a few years ago, I was told that there are dozens of small chip design houses in Brazil. But whether Brazil can truly be a place where a serious volume of chips are built, I think that remains to be seen. Government support is there sometimes, then not, it seems.

@Rick, we have plenty.
In the industrial instrumentation and automation sector, for example, there is a healthy competition among the players, that often develop locally their products from board to case. That is what we do.
The difference from the development done in the 1980's, when Brazil had a closed market for imported hardware and software, is that now we compete head to head with top products designed in the USA and Europe and also with very competitively priced China.
The local development have had to improve or perish.
- Jonny